Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 12
This is a list of selected February 12 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
February 12: Darwin Day; Red Hand Day
- 881 – Pope John VIII crowned Charles the Fat as Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1502 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India with the object of enforcing Portuguese interests in the Far East.
- 1541 – Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago, Chile, as Santiago del Nuevo Extremo.
- 1816 – The original building of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Italy, today the oldest continuously active opera house in Europe, was destroyed by fire; its reconstructed building was inaugurated exactly one year later.
- 1818 – Chile formally declared its independence from Spain.
- 1855 – Michigan State University (Beaumont Tower pictured) in East Lansing, Michigan, was founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the United States' first agriculture college.
- 1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States, was founded to work on behalf of the rights of African Americans.